Welcome to the Story Sparks multi-author blog tour. Between May 21-26, 2018 readers get a chance to enter and win ebooks from six different authors. Today Catherine Castle (That’s me!) is the featured author. Catherine’s winner may choose an ebook from any of her three books listed above on her book spine. Today Catherine will talk about the story sparks that started each of these books rolling. Read on to discover what inspires Catherine’s creativity and to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway .

Story Sparks from Catherine Castle’s Imagination

By Catherine Castle

Hi, everyone!

I began my writing journey as a stringer for a local weekly newspaper. The hardest thing about that job was finding ideas to write about. I was in Writer Heaven when the editor called with a story idea. It was like getting a bright, shiny gift topped with a beautiful ribbon. The problem was those editorial gifts didn’t come in as fast as I wanted them to when I first started writing. So, I had to figure out where to find more ideas to write about. And of course, the burning question back then was, “How do I find an idea?”

It’s also the question most people ask me when they find out I’m a writer. Now I know the answer.

After I published my first book, a multi-award-winning inspirational romantic suspense titled The Nun and the Narc , my daughter bought me a tee-shirt that read Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel. I’m not sure if she knew how true that quote is, but I suspect she did, because whenever I’d hear, see, or read something interesting, she heard me say, “There’s a story somewhere in that.” For me story ideas are everywhere and within everyone. I find story spark ideas in: the things I’m interested in, in other stories, in the news, in things people do, in things people say, at museums, in places I visit, in places other people visit, in magazines, and even through the tidbits of information on the backs of cereal boxes.

The Nun and the Narc originally started with the heroine as a missionary to Mexico building houses for the poor. I’d been working on some news articles about Habitat for Humanity for the newspaper, which probably spurred the original story plot. But the story wasn’t working for me. I couldn’t get my head wrapped around the missionary heroine. Then a critique partner suggested I consider making the heroine a novice in the Catholic Church. Now, I am fascinated by nun stories. “The Sound of Music” is my favorite musical, and I loved the television series “The Flying Nun.” As a stringer for the local newspaper, I interviewed a nun who left the order to marry, and, in real life, I knew a nun who had also left the convent to marry. I do admit to having a curiosity about how those women dealt with leaving the convent, and I think part of that curiosity spurred my story.

The Nun and the Narc

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

Although the book was a hard sell—the Christian market doesn’t usually like you to name denominations—the story was so intriguing to me, because of my interest in nuns, that I wrote it anyway, knowing it might never leave my hard drive. It was a book of my heart—inspired by my own interests and my feature stories for the newspaper.

My second book, a sweet romantic comedy with a touch of drama entitled A Groom for Mama, got its inspiration from a radio play my husband and I wrote years ago, entitled a “Bride for Mama.” The original play finaled in the contest, but my hubby and I never did anything more with it. When I was searching for something new to write, I remembered the radio play. I asked my husband if he minded it I took the original premise—a dying mother wants her son to find a bride before she leaves this earth—and turned the plot on its ear, creating a new story. He agreed and A Groom for Mama was born. I found inspiration in another story.

A Groom For Mama

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

My most recent release, a contemporary inspirational romance entitled Bidding on the Bouquet, was ripped from an internet headline about a bride who was making her wedding attendants bid for places in her bridal party. My story, however, bears little resemblance to the news story. With plot twists and character changes I created a new story. All I needed was spark of an idea provided by the Bridezilla who wanted to get money for her wedding.

Bidding on the Bouquet

The chance to catch a bridal bouquet containing a solid gold rose makes underprivileged, down-on-her-luck grad student Marietta Wilson pawn everything she owns to come up with a bid to win a bridesmaid spot in the most prestigious wedding of the season.

When he discovers his sister is auctioning off bridesmaid spots in her wedding party, wealthy, elitist Chip Vandermere is appalled. Not only is it in poor taste, but no self-respecting lady would stoop so low as to bid. Convinced Marietta is a gold digger, Chip sets out to thwart her plans.

A social climber and a social misfit. Can a bridal bouquet unite them?

So, you might want to be careful the next time you ask a writer, “Where do you get your story ideas?” They might just say, “Why, from you, of course.” Because everything is fodder for the imagination of a writer.

Thanks for coming by today and don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win books from these six authors: Carole Brown, Catherine Castle, Linda Matchett, Amber Schamel, Terri Wangard, and Jodie Wolfe. Click on the link below to enter to win a free ebook. My winner may choose either The Nun and the Narc, A Groom for Mama, or Bidding on the Bouquet.

Welcome back to A Writer’s Garden where writers who are gardeners or just love gardens will be sharing their garden and flower stories, as well as a bit about their writing gardens—aka their books.

I have a great lineup of authors this year, some who’ve been on the blog before, and some who are new to A Writer’s Garden, so I hope you’ll join us every Thursday between now and October to learn about their gardens, flowers, and even see some gardens they’ve visited. You never know what you might find on the blog, but whatever it is, it will be garden related.

I’m starting the garden ball going with a peek at some of the spring garden cleanup in my garden. Spring hasn’t quite sprung in my neck of the woods. The grass isn’t rize, but I am wondering where the warm weather is.

What you see in the photo above is only a small part of spring cleanup I’m facing—the back hill. All that beige stuff is ornamental grasses and dead iris and day lily clumps. And if it doesn’t quit raining, snowing, and get warm enough to get out and work soon, I’m going to go nuts!

If you take a closer look below you can see the tall, dead weed stems that never got cut down last year.

My plan to hire landscapers to do a monthly hill cleanup died after the second hill cleanup bill came and I was suddenly out of money. So, I’m back to a do-it yourself-a bit-at-a-time plan. About 30 minutes at a time, because I’m a year older and my poor knees and back feel five years older and bend even less than they did last year.

And to top it all off, the hubby and I have decided that we—I should say he—has to build a small retaining wall at the bottom of the hill because the gully that carries the rain water from the houses above us is filling up with mulch and dirt rolling down from our hill.

Have I mentioned getting older as a gardener sucks? Especially when the siren call of the garden lures your poor aching bones outside and you see all those weeds and spring work! One of my life goals has been to garden until the day I die, and since I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, I’ve got to figure out how to accomplish that with an aging body.

I spent a great deal of time surfing the internet this winter looking for gardening tools for gardeners with back backs, and I found a couple of handy-dandy tools I’m going to try this year. One is a long-handled pruner that I plan to use to dead head and clip tall weeds with from a standing position.

I’ve already deadheaded the mums along the front pathway and clipped a few dead daisy stems on the opposite side of the path, reaching into the back of the bed, which is usually hard to get to. So far, I’m pleased with the results. The pruner is very lightweight and has a one-handed motion that isn’t too tight, so my hand doesn’t get tired. And with my raised beds I can stand in the garden paths and easily reach the flowers to deadhead them.

The other tool I bought is a push-pull hoe, also called a scuffle hoe. I saw a hoe like this at Disney World a couple of years ago and it looked like a dream to use. The Disney gardener was whacking off weeds in a mulched bed with a simple back and forward motion, which seemed to be much easier than hacking at the weed root with a traditional hoe. Yes, it doesn’t uproot the entire weed, but if I can hack them off below the mulch level, and do it standing without straining my back, I might be able to keep working in the garden all summer without injury. This particular hoe came with a long handle and a short handle, so I can work standing up or seating on the edges of my raised beds.

It’s been too wet to try the hoe, so I’m anxiously awaiting a dry spell when it’s not raining cats and dogs and hail, or it’s not snowing. Don’t laugh. It’s been doing all those in the span of a week–well, maybe not the cat and dog part, but it has been raining hard and flooding areas. We had 30 degrees Monday, 70 degrees Tuesday, a tornado watch that evening, freeze warning for Wednesday, 50 degrees today, and now they are predicting snow for Saturday. The only good thing about the temperature swings is when the snow does come, it’s a “Camelot” snow—it only stays on the grassy areas, leaving roadways and driveways clear.

Well, that’s all I have for today, but I’ll leave you with a quote from my garden calendar…

“You never saw anything so beautiful! It has come! I thought it had come that other morning, but it was only coming. It is here now! It has come, the Spring!”… Burnett

Hurry spring! Hurry!

Has spring come in your area yet?

About the Writer/Gardener:

Gardener/writer Catherine Castle has been gardening all her life in pots, plots, and wherever she can find dirt. Her favorite thing about gardening is the satisfaction she gets from a well-weeded flowerbed. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. When she’s not gardening she’s writing sweet and inspirational romance. You can find her books The Nun and the Narc, A Groom for Mama,Bidding on the Bouquet and Trying Out for Love boxed set on Amazon.

The chance to catch a bridal bouquet containing a solid gold rose makes underprivileged, down-on-her-luck grad student Marietta Wilson pawn everything she owns to come up with a bid to win a bridesmaid spot in the most prestigious wedding of the season.

When he discovers his sister is auctioning off bridesmaid spots in her wedding party, wealthy, elitist Chip Vandermere is appalled. Not only is it in poor taste, but no self-respecting lady would stoop so low as to bid. Convinced Marietta is a gold digger, Chip sets out to thwart her plans.

A social climber and a social misfit. Can a bridal bouquet unite them?

How Small Can You Go?

A few months ago my husband read me a short sound bite about a fellow on the west coast who couldn’t afford an apartment, so he rented a friend’s closet for $600 a month, hung a hammock in it, and called it home.

That interesting tidbit stuck with me. So when the heroine in my contemporary inspirational romance, Bidding on the Bouquet, was bemoaning the fact that she wouldn’t be able to afford an apartment in New York, which was the city she wanted to live in after she finished grad school, the news clip about the “closet apartment” surfaced in the dialogue.

Now I’m pretty certain I couldn’t live in a closet. Neither could I live in a Tiny House on Wheels, aka a THOW, but both of these small spaces are mentioned in my book as alternative housing choices for the heroine.

In spite of the fact I know I could never survive in a THOW for any length of time, I am fascinated by them. Living in a lack of clutter—of which I have an abundance—and a mortgage that resembles that of a 1950’s home loan has a certain appeal. I’m also addicted to HGTV’s Tiny House series, so much so that my hubby groans when I ask him to switch to that channel.

Here are some of the things that I, and my heroine Marietta, love about Tiny Houses.

You can move them. I love to visit different places, but hate packing, unpacking, and checking hotel rooms for bed bugs—I’m a bit phobic about them. With a THOW all your possession go with you, minus buggy hitchhikers.

The low cost of a THOW. Having a paid off mortgage leaves lots of money for things you want to do. It’s also great for Marietta because she’s cash strapped, especially after she hocks everything she owns so she can bid on a bridesmaid spot in the wedding of an I-barely-know-her-acquaintance.

Less clutter means less time you spend cleaning. That’s great for me since I have a bad back and bad knees. Marietta loves the idea because it leaves more time for her volunteer work.

A THOW is full of double duty pieces and interesting storage solutions. Perfect for someone like Marietta who is used to living in a tiny 2 room apartment and doesn’t have a lot of possessions. They’re also great ideas for regular homes like mine. Check these ideas out. You can use them whether your home is tiny, smallish, or bigger.

And last, but not least, a THOW is so darn cute! Take a look at some of these THOW dwellings. Who doesn’t love cute? I know both Marietta and I do.

What about you? Do you like Tiny Houses on Wheels? Could you live in one?

And now, here’s a sound bite from Bidding on the Bouquet. I hope you enjoy it!

Bidding on the Bouquet

By Catherine Castle

The chance to catch a bridal bouquet containing a solid gold rose makes underprivileged, down-on-her-luck grad student Marietta Wilson pawn everything she owns to come up with a bid to win a bridesmaid spot in the most prestigious wedding of the season.

When he discovers his sister is auctioning off bridesmaid spots in her wedding party, wealthy, elitist Chip Vandermere is appalled. Not only is it in poor taste, but no self-respecting lady would stoop so low as to bid. Convinced Marietta is a gold digger, Chip sets out to thwart her plans.

A social climber and a social misfit. Can a bridal bouquet unite them?

Excerpt:

Marietta Wilson dropped the mail and her one hundred and fifty dollar business marketing book on her desk, then sank onto the desk chair with a sigh. Two more months to graduation and she hadn’t scored an interview with her dream company, Branson and Filo Marketing Agency. Life in New York would be expensive. If she didn’t have a good paying job she’d never achieve her life-long goal of breaking her family’s chain of poverty. With all the drama happening at home no way would she go back there. She’d rather sleep in the soup kitchen where she volunteered.

Scooping up an envelope, she studied the glittery pink heart adorning the tip of the closure. Who would send her something encased in such fancy wrappings? Junk mail was the usual fare. Intrigued, she flipped over the envelope.

Her name and address, written in elaborate calligraphy, nearly filled the front side. Definitely not from a marketing company. A Love stamp hugged the right corner, with pinkish-gold flowers drawn all around the stamp’s edge. Flowers of the same hue also surrounded the return label. A wedding invitation? She didn’t even know any engaged couples.

Slipping the letter opener from the orange juice can she stored it in, Marietta slit the top of the envelope. A rose-gold interior glistened from the flap. Without a doubt, not junk mail. She withdrew a piece of flat cardstock. As she did, glossy flowers showered onto her lap. She turned the card in her hand. Rose-gold flowers bordered it as well. Shiny, embossed flowers.

“What the heck?” she muttered as she began reading the card.

You are invited to participate in the season’s most prestigious event.

Date: June 17

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Place: The Vandermere Estate

Event: The auction of bridesmaids’ positions for Chrissy Vandermere’s wedding

Light refreshments will be served

℘

Chrissy is auctioning off a chance to be an attendant in her wedding.

Winners will be escorted down the aisle by New York’s finest bachelors,

and they will procure a bridesmaid-only spot at the tossing of the bride’s bouquet event.

Chrissy guarantees one of the bridesmaids will catch the bouquet,

containing a solid 14-carat rose-gold flower.

℘

Opening bids begin at $100 and are non-refundable. Cash only.

You may make an opening bid higher than $100 if you choose.

Please RSVP by April 30

… Stunned, Marietta reread the invitation. Chrissy Vandermere? The only Vandermere she knew was her wealthy classmate Chip Vandermere, and they weren’t on real talking terms. Nor did they run in the same circles. They only had a few of the same classes and a couple of case studies together in which he had commandeered the group. The guy thought himself a born, or rather a privileged, leader. His attitude had driven her nuts, and, although he was one hot guy who knew he had undeniable sex appeal, she’d stayed away from him as much as she could. She was at the MBA program to learn and conquer, not be someone’s conquest.

About the Author:

Multi-award-winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, and quilting. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her books The Nun and the Narc, A Groom for Mama,Bidding on the Bouquet and Trying Out for Love boxed set on Amazon.

The Trying Out for Love multi-author giveaway has ended and the winner have been chosen. For security, I’m only listing the winners’ first names and first initial of the last name. The author of the book you’ve won will contact you, via the email you gave Rafflecopter, to find out where you want your Ebooks delivered.

Giveaway!

Hi, Everyone! I’m just popping in today to let readers know that I have an interview and an excerpt of my newest inspirational contemporary romance book, Bidding on the Bouquet, over at Lena Nelson Dooley’s blog site A Christian Writers World – Characters Who Grip Your Heart. The giveaway runs for several days, so come on over and leave a comment to be entered. I’d love to have you visit and ask me a question about the book, or anything else you’d like to know about me or my writing.

It’s week two in the Trying Out for Love promo and giveaway. Each week readers can enter the Rafflecopter at the end of the post’s book excerpt for a chance to win one of six books in the Trying Out for Love boxed set or the complete boxed set of six books. Seven chances and seven winners! Be sure to read to the end of the post for an excerpt of Bidding on the Bouquet and enter the Rafflecopter for your chance at a free ebook.

Today’s featured book in the boxed set is Bidding on the Bouquet, by Catherine Castle.

As I mentioned last week, this whole series began with a bridezilla news article. If you’ve ever watched any reality television and seen some of the bridezilla stories, you think of brides behaving badly—divas who think of no one but themselves, wedding dress disasters, wedding venue disasters and much more. But I’d never heard of this kind of bridezilla—a woman, marrying a rich man, who decided to make her bridesmaids bid for spots in her wedding party. The story struck a creative chord in several of the authors who read the article and who then took up the challenge to write a book using this story starter. And we all had some very interesting twists on the original story.

To Bid or Not to Bid—That is the Question

To bid or not to bid was a question a number of the real-life ladies, including the bride’s sister, must have asked themselves when they found out about bridezilla’s bridesmaid auction. By the way, the real bridezilla’s sister chose not to bid.

To bid or not to bid was also the question my heroine, down-on-her-luck grad student Marietta Wilson, briefly asked herself when she received an invitation, out of the blue, to “buy” a bridesmaid’s spot in a wedding for a girl she hardly knew.

Marietta thought that one-hundred dollars to reserve a spot to bid, and then spend who knows how much more money, was a waste of resources that could be put to better use.

But my bridezilla had a very special inducement for her bridesmaids. One of them would not only get a coveted spot in the wedding of the year, but a chance to catch the bridal bouquet containing a solid gold rose nestled among the flowers. Who could resist that? Obviously not my heroine, otherwise there’d be no story.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Bidding on the Bouquet

By Catherine Castle

Two people from different social classes.

Two different philosophies.

One bridal bouquet to unite them.

Excerpt

You are invited to participate in the season’s most prestigious event.

Date: June 17

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Place: The Vandermere Estate

Event: The auction of bridesmaids’ positions for Chrissy Vandermere’s wedding

Light refreshments will be served

℘

Chrissy is auctioning off a chance to be an attendant in her wedding.

Winners will be escorted down the aisle by New York’s finest bachelors,

and they will procure a bridesmaid-only spot at the tossing of the bride’s bouquet event.

Chrissy guarantees one of the bridesmaids will catch the bouquet,

containing a solid 14-carat rose-gold flower.

℘

Opening bids begin at $100 and are non-refundable. Cash only.

You may make an opening bid higher than $100 if you choose.

Please RSVP by April 30

Marietta dug into the envelope again and retrieved a smaller card and matching envelope.

I, ________________________, will be pleased to attend the auction.

My opening bid is $_______

Should I win a spot, I will be available on August 9

to be part of the wedding party

for Chrissy Vandermere

and

Jock Sterlingson

Stunned, Marietta reread the invitation. Chrissy Vandermere? The only Vandermere she knew was her wealthy classmate Chip Vandermere, and they weren’t on real talking terms. Nor did they run in the same circles. They only had a few of the same classes and a couple of case studies together in which he had commandeered the group. The guy thought himself a born, or rather a privileged, leader. His attitude had driven her nuts, and, although he was one hot guy who knew he had undeniable sex appeal, she’d stayed away from him as much as she could. She was at the MBA program to learn and conquer, not be someone’s conquest.

Is he related to this Chrissy?

If so, the whole auction idea was totally insane. Chip Vandermere had so much money he could afford to pay bridesmaids to be in a wedding. No need to auction off the spots. Besides, why should anyone spend money to be in her wedding—or any wedding for that matter? And why had the bride invited her to participate? Even though she’d spent the last six years at an elite private college, she didn’t hang around with the sort of people who had money to throw away on frivolous things such as bridesmaid auctions. She’d spent her undergrad and postgrad years nose-to-the-grindstone, studying and pinching her pennies.

Then she remembered. As a college senior, she had contact with a Chrissy, a rich, air-headed girl, who talked of nothing but herself. She’d never mentioned having siblings. The beautiful, but not-very-bright, student, had asked Marietta to help her pass an exam—and not in the study-hard-so-you-can-pass way. She’d refused, convincing Chrissy to join the study group instead. Chrissy got a D plus, but she’d at least done it honestly. Marietta wasn’t certain the rich debutante had appreciated being spared the indignity of cheating. But if the Chrissy she knew was this Chrissy Vandermere, and if she remembered who she was after two years and invited her to bid on her bouquet, maybe she’d learned a lesson.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe taunting her with the idea she might win something of great value—a 14-carat rose-gold flower—was some sort of joke.

The time the two of them spent together, however, hadn’t been rosy. When she wasn’t trying to cram knowledge into Chrissy’s bubble head, Marietta continually dodged the girl’s questions about her background. She had tried to keep all conversation focused on learning. Chrissy, however, kept pressing for information: how did Marietta get into the elite-of-elite private college where everyone knew everyone else, where did she come from, and why didn’t she ever go out with the rest of the group? The simple truth was, unlike her other classmates, Marietta came from such a dirt poor, dysfunctional, crooked family that if anyone knew her real background they would ostracize her even more. Ducking the questions hadn’t satisfied Chrissy, forcing Marietta to leave the group to keep from being outted as a pretender and fake. Someone who didn’t belong in the exclusive circles of the rich.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Want to read more? Enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win the book. No purchase necessary. Or if you can’t wait, Bidding on the Bouquet is available on Amazon. Winners will be announced February 20 at the end of the Trying Out for Love author guest posts. Remember, all six authors are giving away an ecopy of their book in the series. A boxed set of Trying Out for Love is also in the giveaway. Seven chances and seven winners! Click on the Rafflecopter link below for your chance to win.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Catherine Castle is a multi-award-winning author who loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, watching movies, and the theatre. In the winter she quilts and has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her favorite place is in her garden. She’s a passionate gardener who won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club.

Her debut inspiration romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, from Soul Mate Publishing was an ACFW Genesis Finalist, a 2014 EPIC finalist, and the winner of the 2014 Beverly Hills Book Award and the 2014 RONE Award. A Groom for Mama, is a sweet romantic comedy from Soul Mate Publishing. Her latest release, Bidding on the Bouquet, from Forget Me Not Romances, is an inspirational contemporary romance. Her books are available on Amazon.

My newest book, Bidding on the Bouquet, An inspirational romance just released yesterday. Here’s a peek at the blurb and cover.

I’ll be talking about the book for a few days giving my readers some more tidbits about the story. For a sneak peek, head over to Amazon and check it out. It’s only $2.99 for the Kindle version. Also on Kindle Unlimited. A great book to add to your Christmas reading, even though it’s not about Christmas. But who doesn’t love a happy ending? I know I do.